Check this alpine lake hike before the smoke came
A few weeks ago Treefort had a staff hike / camping retreat to Sisters, Oregon to test some gear and check out some beautiful high alpine lakes. It's a bit comical because even though we have an insane support group behind Treefort, the brand is run by just two people, Kevin the owner and Christopher who does all our web and graphic design as well as a bunch of studio photos and contributes with lifestyle photos for our social media.
We hiked a few miles from the trailhead up to Moraine Lake. The beginning of the hike was a pretty steep ascent in the trees which got us more than warmed up by the time we plateaued into the Moraine Lake basin. This is where the Cloud - SPF 50 Sun Shirt really was amazing. It was like I could feel the sun reflecting off me and a true feeling of coolness when the breeze came through the shirt. I also used the Forager Side-bag fat belt loop to hook the bag to the chest strap on my backpack so my phone, camera and treats are always easily accessible.
After making it to Moraine Lake, we had plenty of time before the sunset which we wanted to be back to Moraine Lake for. So, we took a look at the map and saw there was more lakes within 3-4 miles away and decided we had the time to try and make it to the Green Lakes. We made it to the Green Lakes an hour and a half later and were taken back by how big the main lake was. It was beautiful with clear water and we even had a loon fishing in front of us while we rested on the shore.
After a quick rest, we needed to head back to Moraine Lake to try to catch the sunset which seemed underwhelming at first but as the sunset projected on Broken Top mountain and lit up the sky we were blown away and thankful we went back to catch these views.
On our descent back to the car, we started getting the taste of smoke in our breaths. We knew we were lucky to be able to get such great views on this day trip, but we didn't know how lucky we were as a few days later this whole area got pretty thick with smoke from a few wildland fires in the southern part of the state.
We are really trying for and hoping for a better year than last, dealing with the evacuations and smoke of wildland fires was so rough last year. Let's all please try to do our part by being fire aware and being extra careful, especially in the west. Please do you part by not having campfires and if you smoke, please keep from ashing out the window of your car, or ashing on the ground.
We've learned our Travelers Trunks are the perfect pocket for these wildland firefighters to carry the small items they use most often. They all must carry items like incident response pocket guide, a notebook, pen, lighter, knife and other quick access little tools that are needed often. If you know a wildland firefighter, please have them hit us up, we have a special code for them so they can carry these items easily. These guys and girls also need masks because they are camping in close quarters with lots of other crews and can't afford to have a breakout within their groups.
We have been donating many of our masks to this cause. These masks also help keep the smoke out of the lungs too! If it gets thick with smoke in your area, you're going to want to have one handy.
